China Internet Watch

These Quotes of Jack Ma May Conclude Alibaba in 2015

CIW Team — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 08:00:13 +0000

Alibaba went through all Jack Ma’s speeches in 2015, selected and released eight quotes from various occasions at the beginning of 2016. It indicates Alibaba’s past efforts in 2015 and future directions that you may want to refer to.

To those, we hope that in the foreseeable future all the management teams in our group will be those who were born in the 1970’s.

We hope that we can make Alibaba Group from existing to ubiquitous, “Ubiquitous” means we are available everywhere. Because only when we are ubiquitous, can our clients benefit, can our small and medium-sized corporation clients be developed.

Alibaba Group is not an e-commerce company. We are helping others build e-commerce companies. Our mission is not to sell our own products. To make it easy to do business, and make others sell more of their products is what we aim to do.

We are the same. We have affection and faith. We are doing one meaningful thing together.

We are not waiting for the future. We hope to win a better future for the world.

Who you are today was determined by what you thought and did ten years ago. Who you will be in the next 10 years is determined by what you are doing now.

To create a better business era by computers, data and our e-commerce capabilities.

Every one of you shall not look down upon the work you do, because you are influencing the world.

Also read: China Retail V.S. Online Shopping 2015

Video: Jack Ma’s Speech at CeBIT 2015

CIW Team — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 12:00:48 +0000

The annual IT & Digital Business expo CeBIT 2015 takes place from March 16-20 in Hannover Messe. Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of the Alibaba Group, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, open CeBIT 2015 on Sunday, March 15.

Watch his speech below (from YouTube):

Jack Ma at the end of his speech demoed Alibaba’s face recognition technology for mobile payment starting at the 1:17:45 mark.

China has been selected as the official Partner Country for CeBIT 2015. During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Germany at the end of March, China and Germany agreed to make 2015 the year of “innovation cooperation” between the two countries.

There is no word on when Alibaba will launch the application based on its face recognition technology. The transaction volume and value of mobile payment in China were 4.524 billion and RMB22.59 trillion (US$3.66 trillion) with YoY growth rate of 170.25% and 134.30% respectively in 2014 in China according to People’s Bank of China.

WeChat, Weibo or Alipay? Who Won Hongbao War in 2015?

CIW Team — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:30:38 +0000

Total hongbao volume on Chinese New Year eve exceeded one billion on WeChat compared with 240 million on Alipay. The volume during the same period on Weiob was 101 million who started Hongbao campaign on 2 Feb 2015.

Hongbao, or red envelope, is the Chinese people’s traditions and customs. Every Chinese New Year’s (“CNY”) Eve, a junior will be given some money, packed in a red envelope. In ancient times, the money is used to scare a monster. Gradually, envelopes also became the best carrier between relatives and friends for blessings and good luck in special occasions such as wedding, birthdays, and new-born’s 100th day.

In 2014, WeChat hongbao attracted 8 million users from CNY eve and the eighth day giving away 40 million virtual red envelopes. QQ also gave away virtual hongbao roth 3 billion yuan. 154 million users participated in 637 million hongbao competition on CNY eve.

WeChat collaborated with CCTV this year during Chinese New Year 2015 giving away 500 million yuan cash hongbao and 3 billion coupon hongbao. CCTV programs, especially Spring Festival Gala invited viewers to use “Shake” feature on WeChat to get hongbao including cash and coupons.

Some hongbao, sponsored by companies, require the sharing with friends before the users can get the cash. WeChat also provides features for users to give away hongbao to other individual users or to share in WeChat group.
Users uploaded 39 million family photos on WeChat, a few of which were shown on Spring Festival Gala show.

Total hongbao volume on Chinese New Year eve exceeded one billion on WeChat compared with 240 million on Alipay; interactions via WeChat Shake reached 11 billion from 8pm till 00:48am according to data from WeChat. 101 million Weibo hongbao, sponsored by companies and celebrities, helped Weibo reach daily active users of 102 million.

In addition, 14.3 billion WeChat messages were sent and 260 million posts were published on CNY eve 2015.

At 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, and 12pm sharp on CNY eve, Alipay offers users fifteen minutes to open Alipay Wallet app and “catch” the virtual envelope worth a total of 100 million yuan. Jack Ma also gave away one million hongbao out of his own pocket in two minutes.

If Alipay hongbao can be shared on WeChat, Alipay might be the winner in the hongbao war as it has more users than WeChat Pay; unfortunately WeChat also knows that and blocked it from being shared. Alipay deployed a “hongbao password” tactic so that users can share photos on WeChat Moments with friends who can use the password on the photos and enter in Alipay Wallet app to get the hongbao.

Unfortunately, that was a bit troublesome than using WeChat hongbao; and WeChat provides social features with its hongbao.

Also read: 80% Willing to Travel During Chinese New Year Holidays 2015

Half of Top 10 on Forbes China Rich List 2014 are Internet Entrepreneurs

CIW Team — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 08:28:39 +0000

Half of the top 10 richest men in China on Forbes Rich List 2014 are internet entrepreneurs, on top of which is Alibaba’s co-founder and chairman Jack Ma.

China’s top 100 richest are now worth $376 billion according to Forbes.

Top 10 Richest Chinese in 2014

Jack Ma, $19.5B, E-commerce
Robin Li $14.7B, internet search
Ma Huateng $14.4B, internet media
Wang Jianlin $13.2B, real estate
Li Hejun $13B, renewable energy
Zong Qinghou $11B, beverages
Wang Wenyin $10B, metal
Lei Jun $9.1B, smartphone
He Xiangjian $7.5B, appliances
Liu Qiangdong $7.1B, e-commerce

Here is a comparison with Hurun’s Rich List 2014:

		Name	Wealth US$m	Company
1	28	Ma Yun & family	25,000	Alibaba
2	-1	Wang Jianlin & family	24,200	Wanda
3	80	Li Hejun	20,800	Hanergy
3	-1	Zong Qinghou & family	20,800	Wahaha
5	-2	Ma Huateng	18,100	Tencent
6	0	Li Yanhong & Ma Dongmin	17,500	Baidu
7	40	Yan Jiehe & Yan hao	14,200	China Pacific Construction
8	-2	Yan Bin	10,000	Reignwood
9	248	Liu Qiangdong	8,800	JD.com
10	53	Lei Jun	7,500	Xiaomi Technology

The Top 100 Richest Men in China in 2014

CIW Team — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 08:00:34 +0000

Jack Ma of Alibaba, becomes the number one in Hurun Rich List 2014, with a fortune of US$25 billion, surpassing Wang Jianlin of Wanda in second place with US$24.2 billion.

There are 354 dollar billionaires in Hurun Rich List 2014, up 39 on last year. 10 years ago there were only 3. 819 saw their wealth grow (last year 672) of which 343 (last year 115) were new faces. Total wealth of the richest men in China on Hurun Rich List comes to US$1.4 trillion, more than the GDP of countries like Spain or South Korea.

5 new faces in the Top 10: Jack Ma, Li Hejun, Yan Jiehe, Liu Qiangdong and Lei Jun.

26 are under forty and self-made, two of whom are dollar billionaires: Chen Ou, 31, of Jumei with US$1.5bn, and 34-year old Zhang Bangxin, 34, of TAL Education worth US$1.05bn.

IT has seen the biggest boom. 5 of the Top 10 are in IT. It’s been a good year for entertainment, investments, cars, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing. It has been a bad year for steel and shipping. Manufacturing and real estate are the primary source of wealth for almost half the list.

7 of the Top 10 on the Hurun Rich List are amongst the most popular social media bloggers, showing the huge impact these individuals are having in China. Real estate tycoon Pan Shiyi is the newly-crowned ‘social media king’ with 27m followers, followed by actor and investor Jet Li.

Beijing is the city of choice to live in with 180 individuals living there, 40 more than last year.Shanghai, surprisingly, comes in third behind Shenzhen again.

Anti-corruption campaign. 18 of last year’s list are in varying degrees of trouble with the authorities, of which 11 still made the list this year.

12% are self-made women, led by Chen Lihua, 73, the most successful businesswoman in the world. One of Baidu’s founders, Ma Dongmin, also the wife of Robin Li (a.k.a. Li Yanhong, CEO of Baidu), ranks the fifth richest Chinese women, with net worth of RMB22.5 ($3.67 billion).

Hurun Rich List 2014 – The Top 10 Richest Men in China

		Name	Wealth US$m	Company
1	28	Ma Yun & family	25,000	Alibaba
2	-1	Wang Jianlin & family	24,200	Wanda
3	80	Li Hejun	20,800	Hanergy
3	-1	Zong Qinghou & family	20,800	Wahaha
5	-2	Ma Huateng	18,100	Tencent
6	0	Li Yanhong & Ma Dongmin	17,500	Baidu
7	40	Yan Jiehe & Yan hao	14,200	China Pacific Construction
8	-2	Yan Bin	10,000	Reignwood
9	248	Liu Qiangdong	8,800	JD.com
10	53	Lei Jun	7,500	Xiaomi Technology
11	-6	Yang Huiyan	7,300	Country Garden
11	-2	Zhang Jindong	7,300	Suning
11	11	Zhang Shiping & family	7,300	Weiqiao Pioneering
14	5	Wang Wenyin	7,200	Amer
15	-5	Xu Jiayin	7,000	Evergrande
16	0	He Xiangjian & He Jianfeng	6,800	Midea
17	-5	Chen Lihua	6,700	Fu Wah International
17	-9	Xu Rongmao & family	6,700	Shimao
19	-1	Lu Guanqiu & family	6,600	Wanxiang
20	-8	Liu Yongxing & family	6,300	East Hope
20	16	Zhang Zhidong	6,300	Tencent
22	-18	Wei Jianjun & family	6,200	Great Wall Motor
23	2	Ding Lei	5,900	Netease
24	-3	Li Jinyuan	5,800	Tiens
24	-12	Lu Zhiqiang	5,800	FanHai
26	13	Lyu Xiangyang & Zhang Changhong	5,300	Guangzhou Youngy
26	-1	Zhu Yicai & Wu Xueqin	5,300	Yurun
28	9	Wang Chuanfu	5,200	BYD
29	-14	Liang Wengen	5,000	Sany
30	-13	Liu Yonghao & family	4,800	New Hope
30	-6	Zhang Yin	4,800	Nine Dragons Paper
32	9	Guo Guangchang	4,700	Fosun
32	-4	Wang Yusuo & Zhao Baoju	4,700	ENN
32	119	Zhou Jianping & family	4,700	Hailan
35	-13	Wu Yajun & family	4,300	Longfor Properties
36	-4	Shi Yuzhu & family	4,100	Giant Investments
37	7	Huang Wei & Li Ping	4,000	XinHu
38	-19	Sun Guangxin	3,900	Guanghui
39	-29	Jiang Bin & Hu Shuangmei	3,800	GoerTek
40	-6	Huang Rulun	3,700	Century Golden Resources
40	-8	Pan Shiyi & Zhang Xin	3,700	SOHO China
40	4	Wang Wenxue	3,700	Fortune Land Development
43	-12	Gong Hongjia & Chen Chunmei	3,600	Hikvision Digital Technology
43	75	Jiang Zhaobai	3,600	Pengxin
43	20	Li Shufu & Li Xingxing	3,600	Geely
43	4	Pan Zhengmin & Wu Chunyuan	3,600	AAC Acoustic Technologies
47	-22	Chen Fashu	3,400	Xinhuadu
48	15	Chen Jianhua	3,300	Wujiang Henli Chemical Fibre
48	New	Wei Qi & Wei Xiao	3,300	Tianhe Chemicals
48	-19	Zhu Mengyi & family	3,300	Hopson, Pearl River
51	-17	Chen Zhuolin & family	3,200	Agile Property
51	-12	Huang Guangyu & family	3,200	Pengrun Investment
51	-7	Jia Yueting	3,200	Letv
51	-4	Rong Zhijian	3,200	Citic Pacific
51	-4	Wei Shaojun	3,200	Longjitaihe
51	47	Xiao Jianhua & Zhou Hongwen	3,200	Tomorrow Holding
57	22	Qiu Guanghe & family	3,100	Semir
58	-11	Cai Kui & family	3,000	Longfor Properties
58	-17	Du Shuanghua	3,000	Rizhao Iron and Steel
58	-11	Shi Wenbo	3,000	HengAn
61	-14	Shen Guojun	2,900	China Yintai
61	36	Sun Shoukuan & family	2,900	Jiacheng
61	-4	Xu Lianjie	2,900	HengAn
61	151	Xue Guanglin	2,900	Brightoil
61	31	Yuan Yafei	2,900	Sanpower
61	-2	Zhang Zhixiang	2,900	Jianlong
61	New	Zheng Jianming	2,900	Shunfeng PV
68	30	Chen Tianqiao & family	2,800	Shanda
68	304	Lin Yi	2,800	Shenglong
68	82	Liu Zhongtian	2,800	Zhongwang
68	15	Zhang Hongwei	2,800	Orient
68	-1	Zhu Linyao	2,800	Huabao International
73	10	Du Sha & family	2,700	Homeworld
74	5	Fang Wei	2,600	Fangda
74	249	Guo Wengui & family	2,600	Zhengquan Property
74	-27	Ye Chenghai & Liao Qingqing	2,600	Salubris Pharmaceuticals
74	-17	Zhang Li & Zhang Liang	2,600	R&F
78	134	Che Jianxing	2,500	Macalline
78	New	Chen Hongtian & Yao Lini	2,500	Cheung Kei
78	-6	Lin Xiucheng & Lin Zhiqiang	2,500	Sanan
78	98	Shao Zhongyi	2,500	Chenxi
78	New	Zhang Lei	2,500	Hillhouse
83	8	Feng Hailiang	2,400	Hailiang
83	-11	Li Li & Li Tan	2,400	Hepalink
83	650	Pang Kang	2,400	Haitian
83	-11	Song Zuowen & family	2,400	Nanshan
83	-11	Yu Yong	2,400	Cathay Fortune Corp
83	51	Zhao Buchang & Zhao Tao	2,400	Buchang
83	82	Zhou Hongyi	2,400	Qihoo
90	-17	Cai Dongqing & family	2,300	Alpha Animation
90	99	Che Fengsheng	2,300	Sihuan Pharm
90	34	Chen Jinxia	2,300	Yongjin
90	-66	Fu Liquan & Chen Ailing	2,300	Dahua Technology
90	-2	Huang Maoru & Zhang Jing	2,300	Maoye
90	-49	Huang Nubo	2,300	Zhongkun
90	2	Huang Wenzai	2,300	Star River
90	34	Lin Li	2,300	Liye
90	-7	Liu Hanyuan & Guan Yamei	2,300	Tongwei
90	34	Liu Yiqian	2,300	Sunline
90	111	Luo Shaoyu & Zhao Jiehong	2,300	Dongyin
90	-27	Ma Xingtian & family	2,300	Kangmei
90	8	Miao Shouliang	2,300	Fuyuan
90	-18	Ni Zhaoxing & family	2,300	Zhongrong
90	-41	Shen Wenrong	2,300	Sha Steel
90	-2	Sun Piaoyang & Zhong Huijuan	2,300	Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine
90	-17	Wen Yibo & Zhang Huiming	2,300	Sound Environment
90	8	Xu Yu & Li Shanhu	2,300	Trendy International
90	18	Xue Xiangdong & family	2,300	DHC Digital Technology
90	358	Yan Xijun & family	2,300	Tasly
90	New	Zhang Jun	2,300	Fu De
90	28	Zhu Gongshan	2,300	Golden Concord Holdings

INFOGRAPHIC: Alibaba Investment Timeline 2005-2014

CIW Team — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 08:30:15 +0000

Check out this infographic to have an overview of Alibaba Group’s investment and acquisitions since 2005 before its IPO.

Key investment and acquisitions of Alibaba and its co-founder Jack Ma, the richest man in China:

2005
- Yahoo paid US$1 billion in cash for 40% stake in Alibaba; it also merged its China-based subsidiaries into Alibaba
2006
- Yipai.com, similar to Taobao, was merged into Alibaba Taobao. Yipai had 7.29% market share in Q3 2005.
- Alibaba acquired Koubei.com, one of China’s largest online classified listing companies, which was founded by an ex-Alibaba employee
2009
- Alibaba paid RMB 540 million to acquire Net.cn, a leading basic Internet services provider (web hosting, domain names, etc.)
2010
- Alibaba invested in Shanghai Baozun, an e-commerce outsourcing service provider
- Alibaba purchased shares of private courier company – Xing Chen Ji Bian
- Alibaba acquired U.S. E-Commerce software firm Vendio
- Alibaba invested $35 million to Emapgo (EMG; develops digital navigation maps) to become its biggest shareholder.
- Alibaba acquired Auctiva, a company that develops eBay auction management software
2011
- Alibaba joined in Meituan’s (a group-buying website) US$50M Series B financing
2012
- Alibaba invested in DDMap, a lifestyle e-commerce service provider
2013
- Alibaba, Tencent and Ping An Insurance co-founded Zhong An Online Property Insurance Co. which was expected to be China’s first property insurance company selling all products online.
- Alibaba acquired a leading music service company Xiami, founded by a former Alibaba employee
- Alibaba invested in Taxi booking service provider Kuaidi
- Alibaba bought a stake of about 18% in Sina Weibo for $586 million
- Alibaba acquired mobile analytics provider Umeng for $80 million
- Alibaba invested in travel experience sharing app Zailushang (117go.com)
- Alibaba invested $294 million and took a 28% stake in digital mapping company AutoNavi Holdings Ltd; it bought AutoNavi in Feb 2014 in a deal that values the Chinese company at $1.5 billion
- With registered capital of 5 billion yuan, Alibaba set up Cainiao Network in Shenzhen with its partners to build their own logistics network to cover entire China.
- Alibaba invested in travel website Qyer.com
- Alibaba invested RMB 3.1 billion in UCWeb in March 2013 and fully bought out UCWeb in Jun 2014, who is the maker of one of China’s most popular web browsers.
- Bought a minority stake in online shopping company ShopRunner
- Alibaba acquired Kanbox, the personal cloud storage service
- Invested $50 million in app search engine Quixey
- Alibaba’s Alipay took control of Tianhong Asset Management Co with 1.18 billion yuan investment for 51% stake.
- Alibaba invested HK$2.82 billion in Haier, including HK$1.86 billion to form a new joint venture with Haier’s wholly owned logistics unit Goodaymart
2014
- Alibaba and Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm founded by Jack Ma, bought pharmaceutical data provider CITIC 21 CN for $170 million
- Alibaba invested $15 million in 1stdibs, the fast-growing luxury e-commerce site
- Invested in TutorGroup, a leading online education platform
- Alibaba announced it would invest about $692 million in Intime Retail Group Co., owner of department stores and supermarkets
- Invested in Baicheng.com, a travel website focusing on outbound trips
- Invested $215 million for a minority stake in the messaging and free-calling app Tango
- Hundsun, a well known supplier of financial software and network services, was acquired by Zhejiang Rongxin owned by Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma with 3.299 billion yuan (USD 534.38M)
- Jack Ma and other partners agreed to pay 6.54 bln yuan ($1.05 bln) for a 20% stake in China’s Wasu Media Holding. Alibaba and Wasu would cooperate for online content and Internet TV
- Alibaba (16.5% stake), Yunfeng (2%) agree to buy $1.22 billion stake in Youku Tudou
- Alibaba announced to invest SGD 313 million in Singapore Post for 10.35% stake
- Alibaba agreed to take a 50% stake in Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club

Download a high resolution PDF version of this infographic here.

INFOGRAPHIC Alibaba V.S. JD.com by Numbers

Rocky Fu — Tue, 23 Sep 2014 05:45:40 +0000

Alibaba and Jingdong (JD.com) are the two e-commerce giants in China and now both public listed; you may be wondering how one compares with the another. Here is a simple infographic comparing Alibaba and JD.com by numbers.

Also see the comparison of Alibaba with Amazon; or find out their detailed performance in Q2 2014 here and here.

Alibaba IPO Roadshow Presentation Videos

CIW Team — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:40:22 +0000

Alibaba Group, China’s e-commerce giant, profit tripled to $2 billion in Q2 2014, and it is raising $21 billion in an IPO and here are six videos helping you have a better understanding of its marketplaces.

Impact of Alibaba Online Marketplaces

A short video from chairman and co-founder of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma.

Introduction of Alibaba Marketplaces

Taobao

Tmall.com

AliExpress

Alipay

Alibaba v.s. Amazon: Who’s Making More Money?

Alibaba Chairman Jack Man is the Richest Man in China

CIW Team — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 02:00:36 +0000

The founder and chairman of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma (or Ma Yun), has a net worth of $21.8 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Pony Ma (left), Robin Li

Jack Ma is $5.5 billion richer than Pony Ma (or Ma Huateng), the founder of Tencent according to Bloomberg. Robin Li (or Li Yanhong), Baidu’s founder and CEO, ranks the third.

Alibaba plans to get listed on New York Stock Exchange next month and it may set its IPO value at $154 billion, according to the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg in July.

Jack Ma owns 8.8% of Alibaba and his interest in the company is valued at $11.3 billion after subtracting the 1.5% controlled by SymAsia Foundation, his charitable organization.